Author: COLO

Memories of Goshougake Onsen (Originally posted on 2024-Apr-17)

I love Goshougeke Onsen in Akira Prefecture. It has been about 15 years since the first time I visited, and it is especially nice in winter because there are fewer people.

January in 2023, I participated in a snowshoe trekking organized by Hachimantai Visitor Center for the first time. I enjoyed the spectacular snow-covered scenery, but the weather was not so good. For my 2nd trial seeking nice weather, I made a guided tour and lodging reservations for January of this year. Since I made the reservations two months in advance, with a national holiday in mind, I had no choice of days I stayed.

In reality, it was more of a gamble. When selecting travel destinations, I often check the weather trends on Weather Spark, and according to this site, the chance of clear skies is as low as 15% in Akita Prefecture in winter.

On the other hand, the probability of precipitation is also low, around 30%. However, the site does not seem to count precipitation of less than one millimeter, so the probability may be much higher if you include days with light snow. Even if I cannot aim for clear skies, I would like to avoid snowfall in my photos.

By the way, nothing good has happened since last December. I thought that things could suddenly get better after new year came. On the day of the tour, the same guide as last year made the same comment when we started the tour. “If you want to take pictures, you have to come when it’s sunny”. Well, the weather was such that in this year too.

After a while, the weather turned into a blizzard. It was definitely worse than last year. I knew I cannot statistically expect clear skies, but it does not have to be a blizzard.

The worst blizzard was occured when we climbed the hill overlooking the steam-spewing swamp. The view was spectacular, but snow was flying up from bottom of the hill, making low visibilities. If this is a result of my daily life, I must be a terrible person.

As is often the case, it was turned sunny when we returned to the onsen hotel. The guide asked me with a smile, “Will you come back for the third time?”

Some of the hotel staff knew that I participated in the snowshoe trekking, and after I returned, they told me that they were glad the weather was clear. The kindness of the Akita people touched my heart, but the Akita sky accused me that I was not a good person.

Next year, I will try for the third time. It is difficult to improve my human nature, but as long as I keep doing it many times, one day I will be able to win the gamble.

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Northen Akita

The time and other information are the timetable at the time of my visit.

Day 1

Tokyo Haneda 0855 (All Nippon Airways ANA719) >> Odate-Noshiro 1005
Odate-Noshiro Airport 1020 (airport bus) >> Odate Station 1113

Lunch: Hanazen

Odate 1336 (Hanawa Line) >> Kazuno Hanawa 1428
Kazuno Hanawa 1435 (shuttle bus) >> Goshougeke Onsen 1520

Overnight stay: Goshougeke Onsen

Tips for Day 1
– I originally wanted to visit “Akita Hinaiya” on this day, but my flight from Tokyo Haneda was delayed for about an hour, and it was past noon when the bus actually arrived Odate Station, so I had to give up. I decided to go to “Hanazen” in front of Odate Station, which was originally planned for the third day. Freshly made chicken rice was delicious.
– The bus at Odate-Noshiro Airport was new and larger than last year, which was a welcomed change since it used to be crowded on its way to Takanosu Station.

Day 3

Goshougeke Onsen 0930 (shuttle bus) >> Kazuno Hanawa 1020
Kazuno Hanawa 1053 (Hanawa Line) >> Higashi-Odate 1141

Lunch: Akita Hinaiya

Odate 1357 (Limited Express Tsugaru 4) >> Takanosu 1414
Takanosu 1440 (Akita Nairiku Line Express) >> Kakunodate 1641
Kakunodate 1702 (Shinkansen Komachi 38) >> Omiya 1939
Omiya >> Yokohama

Tips for the 3rd day
– Got off the train at Higashi-Odate Station and walked to “Akita Hinaiya”. The restaurant served excellent “Hinai Chicken” oyakodon (chicken and egg bowl) and treated us wonderfully.
– Sake was sold on the express train of Akita Nairiku Line. We headed for Kakunodate in a warm train, enjoyed winter scenery as we sipped sake. It was a nice time.

COLO’s Traveler Guide: Taiwan

Times etc. listed are the timetables at the time of the visit.

Day 1

Tokyo Haneda 0920 (All Nippon Airways ANA851) >> Taipei Songshan 1230

Songshan Airport 1300 (UBER) >> Jiufen 1345

Overnight stay: Sunny Room

Tea: Jiufen Skyline Tea House

Tips for Day 1
– Since there were three of us traveling, we took UBER from Songshan Airport to Jiufen. We seemed to be able to avoid the traffic jam because the driver went up the mountain from the opposite side of the main route.
– Even though we avoided the weekend, Jiufen was crowded as I heard. Although it was relatively ok after 8:00 p.m., there were still a lot of people and the town would be dark if we stayed too late.

Day 2

Jiufen 1030 (Taxi) >> Ruifang Station 1040
Ruifang 1050 (Taiwan Railways) >> Nangang 1130
Nangang 1210 (Taiwan High Speed Rail 1637) >> THSR Tainan 1406
Shalun (Taiwan Railways) >> Tainan

– Anping Tree House
– Shennong Street

Dinner: Zun Private Kitchen

Overnight stay: U.I.J. Hotel & Hostel

Tips for Day 2
– The electric info board at Ruifang station shows the destination of trains in traditional Chinese characters, but it is like Tokyo Station on the Tokaido Line nowadays, Taipei Station is an intermediate station. So I had no idea of the geographical location of the stations listed on the board. I was about to take the Southbound train based on geographical sense, but when I asked the station stuff, she told me to take the Northbound train. It’s complicated.
– “Tainan” station of Taiwan High Speed Rail is called “Shalun” in Taiwan National Railways. Although they are operated by different entities, I wish they would use the same name for the train station. It would be easier to say “New Tainan” (?)
– The restaurant of the day was worth praise about, but the hotel was also good.

Day 3

– Yongle Market
– Tainan Confucius Temple
– Chikan Tower
– Grand Mazu Temple
– Hayashi Department Store

Lunch: Yamane Sushi

Dinner: Hu Xu Zhong Beef Noodles

Bar: Whisky Picnic

Tips for Day 3
– In Tainan, I was curious about Yamane Sushi. It is a long-established sushi restaurant with deep local roots that seems to have a divided reputation even among Taiwanese. It is a typical Southeast Asian restaurant with tables on the street under an arcade. I found it while walking around town, so I went in. Of course, there is no air conditioner in the restaurant, but the fish seemed to be well refrigerated, so I ordered sushi. It was not bad considering it as a Japanese-style local food.
– Beef noodles can be found all over Taiwan, but the Tainan is famous for beef soup. Eating beef and rice with a delicious soup. I almost despaired the length of the waiting line when I arrived, but found half of the line was for a neighboring restaurant. The turnover was surprisingly fast.
– I went to a whisky bar called Whisky Picnic, which was introduced by a Taiwanese regular at a bar I go to almost every week. It seems that they buy casks and bottle their own whiskey, just work as an independent bottler, which is quite interesting. They accept credit card for over certain amount consumed, and I was a bit nervous because I did not have a lot of cash with me. I then realized that the problem could be easily solved with some more drinks.

Day 4

– Anping Tree House
– Anping Old Fort
– Anping Matsu Temple
– Anping Bean Jelly

THSR Tainan 1213 (Taiwan High Speed Rail 636) >> Taipei 1359
Taipei Station (Subway) >> Taipei Songshan Airport

Taipei Songshan 1650 (All Nippon Airways ANA854) >> Tokyo Haneda 2040

Tips for Day 4
– On the last day, I revisited Anping area. It was cloudy on this day, so it was a good decision to visit Anping Tree House on the Day 2 when the weather was fine.
– To save time, I took the UBER from the hotel to the THSR Tainan Station. It was too far from city center. Depending on the schedule, it may be a good idea to take the Taiwan National Railways from local Tainan station toward Kaohsiung, and then take a fast THSR train from Zuoying to Taipei (the train does not stop at THSR Tainan).
– Taiwanese railway companies produce their own boxed lunches. At THSR Tainan Station, Taiwan High Speed Rail’s lunch boxes are sold in the lobby outside the ticket gates, while Taiwan National Rail’s boxed lunches are sold inside the ticket gates of THSR station. Normally, I would think it would be the other way around, but perhaps there was a struggle over interests.
– I took subway from Taipei Station to the airport. It was a fairly good route, but you came across a few places where there is no escalators nor elevators. It’s just as same as every city on earth, there is no such perfect world.

Memories of Tainan (Originally posted on 2024-June-10)

Since my trip to Taiwan was mainly for my mother, I thought I would keep the itinerary simple, with little effort required to move around. Still, I wanted to add a twist, so I decided to spend one night in the port city of Keelung near Jiufen, and another night in Taipei. This way, we could complete our trip within northern Taiwan and see cities other than Taipei.

I am now not sure if it actually made sense in the end, but in order to avoid crowds, we had decided to stay in Jiufen on a weekday, which meant we would go there on Friday as we arrived in Taiwan. Since it is possible to travel from Jiufen to Keelung by direct local bus, the next day, Saturday would be the overnight stay in Keelung. As a result, the third night in Taipei to be Sunday night.

However, after making all the arrangements, I found out that public local markets in Taipei are closed on Mondays (at least Google told me so). No matter how reasonable the route itself was, as a local market lover, I felt that the last day of our trip would be uninteresting one. Moreover, the private kitchen that impressed me during my last visit had been closed. Should we continue to Taipei on our last day?

My wanderings began.

I started looking travel guides and YouTube every day. There were many choices, but if all we did was move around in Taiwan, it would be contrary to my original purpose and it would be too packed in itinerary. After much consideration, I came to a conclusion that the city of Tainan seemed like a good choice. Tainan is a city in the southern part of Taiwan, where the old cityscape still remains. We decided to stay two nights in Tainan, forgoing overnight stays in Taipei and Keelung. When we finally decided to stay in Tainan, it was less than two weeks before departure, and we had a hard time finding a good hotel.

After returning to Taipei from Jiufen, where was chilly and drizzling, we took the Taiwan High Speed Rail from Taipei. Although the distance is long, the trip takes only about two hours, and the seats are reserved. When we arrived in Tainan, the weather was sunny and almost sweaty. It was like in an another country.

In Tainan, I wanted to visit the ruins of an old warehouse called Anping Tree House, so we headed there first. I was able to capture beautiful oblique light in the early evening. If I had gone to Keelung as I originally planned, I would not be able to get out of the cloudy weather, so it turned out to be a great decision.

For dinner that night, we went to a private kitchen that I had selected from a list of restaurants made by my Chinese-speaking friend. I went there thinking it was a Cantonese-style restaurant that also served Western-style food, but it turned out to be more delicately flavored than I had imagined. It was worth overcoming to make a reservation and other arrangements, and this restaurant alone made me feel glad that I had come to Tainan.

Full-day sightseeing began the next day. We started with an early morning visit to local markets. After purchasing some snacks at the market, we returned to the hotel, took a rest, and then walked around the city’s tourist spots. The city was delicately large and we cut about half of the places we wanted to visit, but we still had to walk about 14 kilometers on this day.

Tainan was extremely interesting and very enjoyable, Taiwanese culture was influenced by Dutch and Japanese rule era. There were some places I missed and there seemed to be many charming back alleys. It is a city I would like to revisit.

Although I used UBER and took breaks from time to time during this trip, the distance we walked during the four-day trip was about 40 km. While I was able to adjust our air and rail travel schedule, as a sightseeing trip for an elderly person, this probably meant that we walked too much.

I tried to reduce the amount of effort required for travel, but it seems that I could not change my travel style. I am a selfish old son after all. By the way, my mother is 80 years old this year, and she is taken care by the same acupuncturist as myself and wife, who says my mother is in the best in health among the three and I am the far worst.

I guess that means I should take care myself without thinking about other things.